Yamaha YH-5000SE — a flagship from an orthodynamic headphones veteran!

[Kammerat Rebekka]

Did you listen to the YH5000SE ? Or are you analyzing graphs ?

Did you read what I wrote? I hated the sound long before I saw any type of frequency response on it. I just don’t like peaks.
But yes I have listened to it quite a few times by now. Over 15 times. Still sounds awful to me.

 

[Whitigir]

Did you read what I wrote? I hated the sound long before I saw any type of frequency response on it. I just don’t like peaks.
But yes I have listened to it quite a few times by now. Over 15 times. Still sounds awful to me.

What were the equipments you listened on ? The HD800 was very heavily criticized when upon releases. But mostly everyone adores 800S now

 

[voja]

There is of course also the possibility that Yamaha simply messed up immensely by releasing a headphone that only a rare few headphone enthusiasts will like.
I mean…this is after all a flagship planar magnetic that rolls off in the subbass like a normal dynamic driver headphone so we don’t even get the planar party piece with this headphone.
On top of this we are treated to a very strange tuning resembling a pseudo take on Grado; no subbass, large peak in the mids and a very very unrefined treble performance.

Now I know many folks on here don’t get along with frequency responses which is quite alright. I listened to the Yamaha before seeing any type of chart on it, and I hated the sound from the get-go. I absolutely LOVE the way it looks, how it feels in my hands and on my head - sheer luxury…but man I wouldn’t pay a 100€ for the sound.
That’s not because I pray at the altar of the Harman tuning - not at all, but I strongly dislike peaks of any sort - most especially in the midrange that ultimately makes music shouty and unnatural sounding to me. Whatever tuning Yamaha went for failed imho. Peaks, valleys and what can only be described as a jagged breadknife response, aka the total opposite of smooth, are not positive traits headphone makers actively seek out…unless they have completely lost their marbles of course. I’m not sure where Yamaha is at, but there is a logical reason why they’re not selling tons of these.

Having said all of the above, I still have a buddy who owns and loves his pair. He and I almost never agree on headphones. We listen to a lot of the same music but couldn’t be further from one another coconut-wise. He adores Grados and hears the YH5000se as a planar Grado, which I actually agree with him on. I just don’t find that a compelling notion at all

I have spent a total of 6 months with these, and I spent even more time thinking about literally everything surrounding the YH-5000SE. I'll address everything, including the negative reception. There has been a lot of jumping to conclusions and not a whole lot of trying to understand this headphone or how it's possible for it to be perceived so drastically different.

Expect my publication to come soon. Won't have a lot of time for engaging in this thread, but as soon as I am done with writing, I'll be back =)


Stay friendly and enjoy music!


Edit: fixed a single misspelling

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

A combination of Holo May, Mola Mola Tambaqui, Riviera AIC10 and Niimbus U5 Pro. Also heard it via an old school Rotel cd player and Lake People headphone amp. Same results.
No chain can remove a large midrange peak unless it uses equalisation.

Edith: it’s alright @voja
Like I said my buddy shares the same sentiment as you do regarding the Yamaha. I have stopped trying to like it. Trust me I’ve tried. I really really adore the way it looks and feels but ultimately can’t get over how wrong I feel it sounds.
Then again the reason I hate the sound of this headphone is the exact same reason why my buddy loves it. It is what it is

 

[Whitigir]

A combination of Holo May, Mola Mola Tambaqui, Riviera AIC10 and Niimbus U5 Pro. Also heard it via an old school Rotel cd player and Lake People headphone amp. Same results.
No chain can remove a large midrange peak unless it uses equalisation.

Edith: it’s alright @voja
Like I said my buddy shares the same sentiment as you do regarding the Yamaha. I have stopped trying to like it. Trust me I’ve tried. I really really adore the way it looks and feels but ultimately can’t get over how wrong I feel it sounds.
Then again the reason I hate the sound of this headphone is the exact same reason why my buddy loves it. It is what it is

Excellent feedbacks sir! Thank you! Indeed the peaks and dips are too different from even the 800s itself

 

[voja]

A combination of Holo May, Mola Mola Tambaqui, Riviera AIC10 and Niimbus U5 Pro. Also heard it via an old school Rotel cd player and Lake People headphone amp. Same results.
No chain can remove a large midrange peak unless it uses equalisation.

While I'm here, this will be my last reply. I haven't used any black magic (that I'm aware of), yet I did manage to completely shift the sound profile of these, and get rid of the peaks.

I notice that you mentioned a lot of expensive and TOTL audio equipment. You jumped to a conclusion after your negative experience through the limited selection of gear you have. Your idea of these is limited to the pairings you tried, and you closed the door on the possibility of its sound differing with other configurations, and that's common with the rest of the people who didn't like its initial sound. Like I said, everything will be addressed in my article. I've experienced both the YH-5000SE that is described as the best headphone ever, and the flawed YH-5000SE described by you and others who were disappointed with its performance.

Stay tuned. This headphone is in a foreign language, and I hope my article serves as its translation. My goal is to reach a universal understanding of this headphone.

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

While I'm here, this will be my last reply. I haven't used any black magic (that I'm aware of), yet I did manage to completely shift the sound profile of these, and get rid of the peaks.

I notice that you mentioned a lot of expensive and TOTL audio equipment. You jumped to a conclusion after your negative experience through the limited selection of gear you have. Your idea of these is limited to the pairings you tried, and you closed the door on the possibility of its sound differing with other configurations, and that's common with the rest of the people who didn't like its initial sound. Like I said, everything will be addressed in my article. I've experienced both the YH-5000SE that is described as the best headphone ever, and the flawed YH-5000SE described by you and others who were disappointed with its performance.

Stay tuned. This headphone is in a foreign language, and I hope my article serves as its translation. My goal is to reach a universal understanding of this headphone.

Unless you are equalising down that enormous midrange peak, there is just no way I’d like this headphone.
No amp, dac, streamer, dap or cable is going to remove a large peak from the presentation. That is just outside of the laws of physics. I do believe that some can get used to the presentation - so much so that what earlier sounded like a peak to them now sounds like welcoming detail, sure…but the peak is still there. It’s the listener’s ears and head that have changed

Unless people end up liking the same presentation in this hobby, which would be boring as all hell, there is no real way of achieving a universal understanding of any headphone. I do agree that the Yamaha is one strange beast and a small part of me kinda likes that about it…but it is not at all weird to me that it doesn’t seem to sell like all the other flagships out there.

 

[SolarCetacean]

I listened to the YH-5000se again at CanJam and this time, it was with the suede earpads. I think I prefer the suede ones, as they are less weird. From my CanJam impressions post (with clarifications in [] brackets):

I have this situationship with the YH-5000se; it sounds so weird that I'm always intrigued by it, but never to the point of outright liking or disliking it. I've heard it twice before and both times were with the leather earpads. This time, I found it in the Raal/Mimic audio room with the suede pads. I think I like the suede pads more (and pad preference is a divisive topic like everything else about this headphone). The suede pads tone down the midrange weirdness to me and softens the sound overall. Bass and treble aren't as hard-hitting and crisp as with the leather pads, but given the midrange weirdness, that might be a good thing. I thought this was the least weird I've heard this headphone sound. I kind of liked its presentation with some songs; it has that bloomy "cinematic" bass that I described for the Stax T8000 [original post]. The spatial imaging was also very precise and it had a good sense of spaciousness to notes. However, it has issues with rendering piano recordings. Do note the irony of a Yamaha headphone having trouble with piano notes. On some tracks like "La Gazza Ladra" by Chelsea Guo, starting at 3:15, there is a sort of distortion that happens at the height of the scale that she plays. And pianos in general sound like low-res, old recordings of pianos from like the 1930s. If you told me that the piano track I was listening to on the YH-5K was recorded in 1935, I'd probably believe you. This issue is also present with the leather pads (I listened to "La Gazza Ladra" during my first demo), and it might be less pronounced with suede pads; in fact, I think the "retro" sound of pianos is better than how it sounded with leather pads. Maybe the Viva amp [Viva Egoista 2A3] had something to do with it too. The YH-5000se keeps on being weird; I always find something appealing about it, but then I find something odd about it too.

 

[jjss]

I have a somewhat more pragmatic perspective, for those who have the HP and are keeping it then obviously they like the HP, for those who had it and sold it means probably the HP isn't what they want most and for for them life move on. For those who are curious and exploring or those who are considering acquiring, my experiences told me that there is no better substitute than personal audition of the HP, I have enough of measurement as a predictor of MY (I mean MY, not yours not his, hers) like/dislike of a pair of HP, not that I'm anti science, or things like that its just that such "prediction" is all over the places when it comes to MY actual listening of a HP, i.e. to ME, these two "parameters" don't just correlate well. So if one could have personal audition that's excellent, then listening to it to find it out for yourself, if such opportunity isn't possible then caveat emptor applies ..

Well I have the YH-5000SE for quite a while and its a keep for me, and I'm using it with a DAP paired with HAA Resolute.

 

[shabta]

I had an extensive audition of these headphones with several pads. In the end I would say that they sound much better then some people say, but definitely didn't resolve details the way any number of similarly priced headphones do. So it was a hard pass. That said, I can understand why some people like the timbre of the yamaha.

Also no offense to @voja . I often enjoy reading his thoughts. But it's more than a little condescending to tell people that there is some secret combination to get the headphones to sound amazing. All the best headphones that I have heard, and I have heard most of the greats, sounded great even when paired with suboptimal equipment. I am pretty sure that while I may not have heard the yamaha at it's best,. I heard it on really great equipment that the guy who was enthusiastic about the headphones said I should try... We all just hear things differenty.

 

[up late]

from @bunnygal23's post in the canjam new york 2025 impressions thread:

'Yamaha YH5000SE
These are not new but I've never listened to these before, I didn't even know Yamaha made headphones so I was eager to give these open back planars a try. Build wise these are great and I love the look and feel of them. The only thing I will note is that similar to the Fiio FT7, the headband adjustment mechanism is a little loose so it slid down on my head after a while, there's probably a way to tighten it but just wanted to note that. Comfort was great too. Okay for the sound... these are not for me. As soon as I queued up one of my vocal focused test tracks things just sounded wrong. The voices were just way too forward and shouty and I picked up way more instances of sibilance compared to the other hps I tried. I imagine these are probably more specialist headphones but for my library, they just didn't work. Kinda disappointing because the build and comfort were first class.'

the entire post can be found here

 

[Whitigir]

from @bunnygal23's post in the canjam new york 2025 impressions thread:

'Yamaha YH5000SE
These are not new but I've never listened to these before, I didn't even know Yamaha made headphones so I was eager to give these open back planars a try. Build wise these are great and I love the look and feel of them. The only thing I will note is that similar to the Fiio FT7, the headband adjustment mechanism is a little loose so it slid down on my head after a while, there's probably a way to tighten it but just wanted to note that. Comfort was great too. Okay for the sound... these are not for me. As soon as I queued up one of my vocal focused test tracks things just sounded wrong. The voices were just way too forward and shouty and I picked up way more instances of sibilance compared to the other hps I tried. I imagine these are probably more specialist headphones but for my library, they just didn't work. Kinda disappointing because the build and comfort were first class.'

the entire post can be found here

Shouty and too forward vocal is a no no for me. I enjoy several genres but they all have vocal. Only been lately I am collecting new music from Lindsey

 

[Afiroxlty]

Yamaha is finally making a return to the orthodynamic headphones field. Not only is it making a return, it's making a return in full force.

For those unaware, Yamaha played a major role in history when it comes to orthodynamic headphones. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that it's among the most important and influential names in the history of orthodynamics. It was a very early adopter of the then-new technology. The 70's were a very important period in time for planar-magnetic headphones. While Fostex made its name with the "T" series of headphones, Yamaha had a different approach. It made its first appearance in 1975 with the HP-1 headphones, designed by none other than Mario Bellini (who would desig several other headphones for Yamaha). While the majority of companies entering the new market of orthodynamics struggled with sales, Yamaha clearly had the experience and the financial resources to make a dominant entrance into the market. To sum up its active years in the field, the HP series consisted of 8 models (HP-1, HP-2, HP-3, HP-1000, HP-50, HP-50S, HP-50A, HP-50M), the YH series consisted of 6 models (YH-1000, YH-1, YH-2 , YH-3, YH-5M, YH-100), the YHD series consisted of 3 models (YHD-1, YHD-2, YHD-3), and the YHE series consisted of 2 models (YHE-50A, YHE-50S). According to Wikiphonia (@Faust2D), Yamaha was active for 14 years in the orthodynamic headphone industry (1975-1989).

@Faust2D deserves major praise for his contributions in collecting educative and informational material about headphones, gifting this industry with Wikiphonia. Thanks to him, you can read about Yamaha's orthodynamic headphone lineup history:
https://web.archive.org/web/2015052...x.php?title=Yamaha_Orthodynamic_Line_Overview

After 33 years, Yamaha is making a return. However, it's no ordinary return. Oh no, Yamaha could've never done something like that. Not after three decades of being absent! It's making a return in proper Yamaha fashion. The newly-announced YH-5000SE is a flagship orthodynamic headphone that is a direct successor to the HP-1.


Picture of HP-1's driver.

I am waiting for Yamaha to officially release some information about the YH-5000SE, as well as some photos. Until then, share your thoughts and impressions (if you have them).

UPDATE (17/11/22): MSRP (bold=official information) ¥450,000 (JP) | $5000 (US) | $7500 (AU) | £4800 (UK) | €5700
Announcement post w/photos

Guide to the thread (@doctorK53 contributions):​

1) Transcription of Youtube interview to Yamaha staff (this is the first post in head-fi of mine)​

2) Word-to-word translation on the corrugation of the driver from the above video​

3) Summary of Otai Audio video with a Yamaha salesperson​

4) A short introduction of the engineer's comment on chain-dependence​

4) Translation of impressions from Japanese twitter posts (vol. 1) from auditioning​

5) Translation of impressions from Japanese twitter posts (vol. 2) from auditioning​

6) Translation of impressions from Japanese twitter posts (vol. 3) including the owners'​

7) A summary of blog articles by pansaku and yukihira​

8) @doctorK53's first impression ("the first headphone review of mine in any language")​

9) @doctorK53's second impressions​

Yamaha’s return to orthodynamic headphones is nothing short of legendary. After 33 years, they’re not just coming back—they’re making a statement. The YH-5000SE as a successor to the iconic HP-1 is exactly what the industry needed.

 

[HiFiDJ]

several pads

There are just 2, no? Unless you put in some others that managed to fit.

secret combination to get the headphones to sound amazing

No secrets, just a lot of hard work. They are just that sensitive imo. As I mentioned before, these aren't for everybody. You need to put in the hard work to find good synergy, otherwise they'll sound atrocious. If that sounds like a pain to people (and it is), these aren't the headphones for you.

Ultimately, I think these are headphones that you must audition first (in your own system) before buying.

 

[shabta]

No secrets, just a lot of hard work. They are just that sensitive imo. As I mentioned before, these aren't for everybody. You need to put in the hard work to find good synergy, otherwise they'll sound atrocious. If that sounds like a pain to people (and it is), these aren't the headphones for you.

Ultimately, I think these are headphones that you must audition first (in your own system) before buying.

The issue isn't whether or not sources can bring out the best a headphone has to offer. You have been sharing your findings freely. It's when someone makes a big deal criticizing other people experience and says I know better but I won't tell you, that I felt it was time to say something. I seriously doubt that with the right amp and dac, suddenly these headphone become highly resolving. I tried a whole bunch of different high quality sources and while some sounded better than others, they all had the same flaw: the headphone wasn't resolving enough for me. I was willing to go through pain for the HD800S, the Sus OG and the Stax SR007, notoriously picky headphones. Yet even on subpar systems, they showed what their potential was. Of course YMMV. Best wishes!